Wikipedia talk:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Online Communities (2016-1-SP)

Proposed topics

Stacy Alabre: I would like to write my Wikipedia page on the Circle of Poison, currently there isn’t a Wikipedia article on this topic. Pesticide exports create a circle of poison, disabling workers in American chemical plants and later returning to us in the food we import . The American consumer is eating pesticides banned or restricted in the United States, but legally shipped to the third world. The United States is among the world's top food importers and 10 percentof our imported food is officially rated as contaminated. I’m very interested in local and global environmental issues and learned about this issue in a previous course that I took. Overall, I believe there is a substantial enough amount of information for me to create a Wikipedia page on the Circle of Poison .

References

Stacy Alabre (talk) 09:09, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Stacy Alabre, sources look good and David Weir_(journalist) has an article mentioning the book and term, so you'd be able to make some links there. -Reagle (talk) 16:22, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

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Syd Smoot: I would like to create a Wikipedia page for the Route 66 Film Festival. I noticed that there currently isn't a Wikipedia page for the festival and it is listed in the notable topics to contribute to on Wikipedia. The Route 66 Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place every November in Springfield, IL. 2015 marked the 14th year that the festival has been running. Route 66 Film Festival supports independent filmmakers and various film genres and topics from documentary to comedy. Withoutabox, an online website, describes the festival in great detail as well as FilmFestivals.com and IMDB. Heytherefriend (talk) 00:22, 18 January 2016 (UTC).

Heytherefriend, looks good. I think you'd want to find some newspaper articles as well. -Reagle (talk) 16:23, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Reagle, Thanks for letting me know! I found an online newspaper article from The Springfield State Journal that I'm going to add to my list of resources regarding the Route 66 Film Festival. Heytherefriend (talk) 05:58, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

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Phil Learmonth: CDM Smith Inc. is an employee owned engineering and construction firm headquartered in Boston with over 5000 employees worldwide. Despite being ranked 22nd in Engineering News-Record's 2015 Top 500 Design Firms, CDM Smith does not have a Wikipedia page. I have found articles about their acquisition of Wilbur Smith, the relocation of their headquarters, and a short company overview by Bloomberg among others. I'd like to create this page because the public needs greater insight into the companies that make up the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, which exists mostly outside of the public eye. A conflict of interest could arise because I was a co-op student at CDM Smith from July to December 2015. Question: can I use facts and news cited from CDM Smith's website or does that create a conflict of interest? Phil Learmonth (talk) 22:09, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Phil Learmonth, I think you can use primary sources, but reputable secondary sources are preferred. Also, if you've worked there I'd disclose that on the Talk page. -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

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Zach Speed: I would like to write a Wikipedia page about the Polartec Big Air at Fenway event. There is currently no Wikipedia page for the event that I can find. The event should be a very high profile event in the upcoming months however. Fenway Park is going to host a "big air" contest on February 11-12, 2016. Athletes from around the world (several of which have competed in the Olympics) will jump off a 140 foot high snow ramp. The Polartec Big Air at Fenway will be part of the International Ski Federation's World Cup Tour. A Boston sports article has already been published that summarizes the general jest of what the event will be about. The Boston Globe has also released an article that goes into more depth about the event and talks a little bit about other events Fenway has put on. NESN published an article that covers some of the same material and contributes some quotes about the event. There are plenty more sources that have released information about the event and I'm sure many more will come out as the event nears. I would really like to write about this since I have always thoroughly enjoyed winter sports and it is very specific to the Boston area.Zach Speed (talk) 00:13, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Zach Speed, this sounds good. People might wonder if it is notable, so do similar events also have articles in Wikipedia? -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you. There aren't many similar events that I could find on Wikipedia, so I do understand why some may say it is not notable. However, there are articles about a unique baseball event that took place at Fenway called Futures At Fenway. There is also a Wikipedia link for Frozen Fenway, which is a unique hockey event that took place at Fenway (although nothing is actually written on the page). Zach Speed (talk) 02:25, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

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Ryan Leys: The Dropkick Murphys are a Boston icon, but despite their notoriety, many people are not aware that they own the bar McGreevy's on Boylston Street. McGreevy's, named after baseball player singer Michael T. McGreevy, was originally called Third Base Saloon, but was recently re-opened by Dropkick Murphys band member Ken Kasey as McGreevy's in 2008. While Michael T McGreevy does have a Wikipedia page, the bar itself does not. It's been documented by the Boston Herald that Ken Kasey is the owner of McGreevy's. Boston.com also wrote about a performance the Dropkick Murphys played in the bar. More detail about the bar, including quotes from owner Ken Kasey can be found on masslive.com. Ideally I will find local newspaper articles that have reported on the opening of McGreevys. Ryanleys (talk) 14:40, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Ryanleys, sounds good. I imagine this will also be easy for you to add some photos too. -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

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Paloma Magana: I would like to write my article about singer and producer Gabrielle Smith who goes by the name of Eskimeaux Smith originally formed Eskimeaux in 2007 but released her first full length album, O.K. on May 11, 2015 which received favorable reviews from both Pitchfork and Fader. She has also played shows with other notable acts in the genre of music including Alex G and Colleen Green. Lastly, she's referenced in Frankie Cosmos wiki page under her associated acts section which I think is notable. Peemags (talk) 16:43, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Peemags, sounds good, do check out Wikipedia:Notability (music) -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

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Christina Sirabella: In 2014, a site called Femsplain -- started by former Tumblr employee Amber Gordon and three of her friends -- raised over $30,000 via Kickstarter. It launched as a "community-driven publisher" that publishes articles written by women and aims to create discussions around topics such as mental health, minority experiences, disability, and more. Gordon has stated, "...we wanted to build a community where other people would feel comfortable telling their stories." It has received praise from news sources such as TechCrunch and the Huffington Post, and celebrities like Lena Dunham have even tweeted about the site. On International Women's Day in 2015, the site suffered a DDoS attack and was offline for a couple of hours. I think Femsplain, though it is still fairly new, should have a Wikipedia site since it was so popular on Kickstarter and has since received attention from popular news websites. This would also be pretty meta, since I'd be writing an article about an online community through Wikipedia, which is another online community. Csirabella (talk) 16:16, 19 January 2016 (UTC) References

Csirabella, sounds good. Maybe people would question Wikipedia:Notability but I can't think of any specific policies that would apply. -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

New proposal! Now I'm going to do Drizly which is a startup that partners with wine, beer and liquor retailers to deliver alcohol to people's homes via a Smartphone app. Drizly currently serves 15 markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. They announced a $13 million funding round in May 2015 and they plan to use the new influx of funds to bring that total to 30 markets by the end of 2016. Their successes have been covered by Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, and TechCrunch since they launched in 2013, and I think they definitely deserve a Wikipedia page. Instacart, which is a similar app that delivers groceries, has a Wikipedia page so I plan on using that as inspiration. Csirabella (talk) 23:14, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

References

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Molly Shuttlesworth: For my topic I am torn between writing about two local retailers. The first is a home furnishing/interior design store called Pioneer Goods. Located in Boston’s South End, Pioneer Goods is an acclaimed local favorite and Boston Best, awarded Boston’s Best Home Boutique 2015 by the Improper Bostonian. Run by Justin Power, the store refurbishes and sells unique antique furniture and knick-knacks and is making a splash in the local shop community. Alternately, is the preppy lifestyle brand Kiel James Patrick (KJP) located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. With a vision of a return to American-made goods and a marketing platform relying almost solely on an image of exclusivity as “the peppiest man on Instagram” KJP is an interesting subject of successful social network marketing. Mshuttles (talk) 17:21, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Mshuttles, in general I think both are okay, the question I think will be which can you get secondary sources for. -Reagle (talk) 17:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

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Connor Dunbar: For my topic, I want to either write about a small Akron, OH based guitar pedal company called Earthquaker Devices or a craft brewery in Framingham, MA called Jack's Abby. I'm leaning towards EQD because I feel like I may have a slight conflict of interest with Jack's Abby, as my brother currently works for them. I do also own some EQD pedals, but I don't have any direct benefit from them succeeding as a company other than that they'd continue making products that I like. However, I do feel like my documentation of Jack's Abby may be justified as they are becoming more and more notable in terms of their size and their uniqueness of contribution to the craft beer market, namely their innovation in the area of lager production.

References (EQD)

--Cdunbarc (talk) 18:44, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Cdunbarc, either is probably doable and you can always disclose such slight COI on your and the article talk page. But it's good to see you have secondary sources for EQD. -Reagle (talk) 16:50, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

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Tatum Hartwig: For my topic, I am currently considering two options. The first being improving upon an existing page that is both outdated and missing many critical details about the organization known as November Project. The organization has experienced hyper growth and is now located in 30 cities worldwide, including the introduction of their first "tribe" outside of North America. Things I'd like to use to improve upon this page is to add the information regarding corporate partnerships with the likes of both New Balance and The North Face. Additionally, there are many norms, specific lingo, and other unique aspects of November Project that should be covered in this article. If this article does not work for our assignment, I would like to propose an article on the local Boston-area hard cider company, Downeast Cider. The company was founded in 2011 by two Bates College alums and began operating in Charlestown,MA. Recently, however, they have expanded to East Boston. They offer many tours, events, and even trivia nights at their cider house. Tatumhartwig (talk) 17:34, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

References

Tatumhartwig, like Connor above, either is probably doable. If you're leaning towards November Project, I'd say go for it as long as you have good sources. -Reagle (talk) 16:50, 21 January 2016 (UTC)